Granit Xhaka talks about trouble with a Kosovo activist
“History was presented larger than it was actually”
Three weeks after losing the World Cup in the round of 16, Nati captain Granit Xhaka takes a stand. In an interview with “Keystone-SDA” he talks about criticism, his World Cup conclusion and the captain’s question.
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Granit Xhaka speaks for the first time since about the World Cup debacle against Portugal.
The round of 16 debacle against Portugal
«Honestly, it took me several days to process this result. It was a very strange game. Only the massive difference in mileage is noticeable. The Portuguese ran ten kilometers more. Normally you don’t have a chance in a round of 16. […] The Portuguese were fresher, more rested. They exchanged eight positions compared to the last group game. We had ailing players but few options. And quite clearly: The intense duel with Serbia cost a lot of strength and energy in the mental area. »
“This year’s World Cup opener against Cameroon was okay, nothing more. If we had played like this we would probably have gone down against Brazil and it wouldn’t have turned out well against Serbia. Then came the improvement we needed – a very good defensive performance against one of the tournament favorites (Brazil) and a huge performance against the Serbs, which I rate much better than the comparison in Russia four years ago. We had to go to the limit accordingly.”
“I wasn’t born a captain, the ribbon isn’t the result of a good game, it’s years of hard and honest work behind it. In the course of my career I have cleared many big stones from the way. Neither in Switzerland nor abroad can anyone point a finger at me that I haven’t done enough. I’m brutally proud of my journey. And the experts should never forget something: In football, everything is decided on the pitch, but nothing in the TV studio.”
His standing in the national team
“Nobody has to be afraid of me, I’m not concerned with personnel policy, I’m concerned with progress. I want to win, in training, in games, always. I try to convey to everyone that just being there is not enough. I’m just as harsh on a Breel (Embolo) and Ricci (Ricardo Rodriguez) as I am on everyone else. My primary concern is to help the team. It’s about performance, about big goals, about nothing else. These are not power games. I want success! It’s not about Granite, Breel or Akanji, but about the Swiss team. That’s it, very simple.”
His father’s quarrel with a Kosovar activist
“It was about attention for those involved. She used a harsh word against me. Suddenly it was about raising my parents. I didn’t want to comment on it myself. My father got in touch. The story was presented larger than it was effective. Four or five years ago, such a development might have weighed on me. Now I’m trying to classify everything a bit.”
The interview was conducted by the Keystone-SDA news agency.
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